(27-12-2011 04:43 PM)kineo Wrote: I've mentioned here before that I was a very devout Christian, and was even a Pentecostal Christian who spoke in tongues. It's something I feel embarrassed about, something from my past that I feel like I should have been intelligent enough to walk away from.

. . .

It's a long process of brainwashing that I'm ashamed to have been a victim of.

As Malleus said above, there's no need to be ashamed and embarrassed, Rob.

What you've described transcends religion. It's part of the common human experience of almost all of us to look back at things in our past and say to ourselves, "Why the HELL did I ever say that, do that, act that way . . . ?" If the speaking-in-tongues thing turns out to be the only instance in your life of such regret, you'll be very lucky.

Hopefully we learn from our mistakes. In your case, the important thing is that you WERE able to walk away. That indicates growth and maturity, which you should feel proud of.

Religious disputes are like arguments in a madhouse over which inmate really is Napoleon.

I actually never did fake it, but I was made to feel like something was wrong with me, that I was not receiving the holy spirit.I had bad thoughts about it for quite a while,wondering if I was a demon or something! I remember a lady saying to me once, "Do not worry, you will get it".

(27-12-2011 04:43 PM)kineo Wrote: I've mentioned here before that I was a very devout Christian, and was even a Pentecostal Christian who spoke in tongues. It's something I feel embarrassed about, something from my past that I feel like I should have been intelligent enough to walk away from.

. . .

It's a long process of brainwashing that I'm ashamed to have been a victim of.

As Malleus said above, there's no need to be ashamed and embarrassed, Rob.

What you've described transcends religion. It's part of the common human experience of almost all of us to look back at things in our past and say to ourselves, "Why the HELL did I ever say that, do that, act that way . . . ?" If the speaking-in-tongues thing turns out to be the only instance in your life of such regret, you'll be very lucky.

Hopefully we learn from our mistakes. In your case, the important thing is that you WERE able to walk away. That indicates growth and maturity, which you should feel proud of.

Thanks guys, I think you're right- and I'm extremely glad I was able to leave it behind. And you're right, that phenomenon isn't limited to only religion. It is present in humanity in general.

I suppose one could be brainwashed with cereal or other TV commercials as far as that goes. But this kind of brainwashing can leave hurtful scars for quite a while as a person wonders things like, "why have you hardened my heart".

What about 1 Corinthians 13:1? "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." If I'm interpreting that "correctly" it seems to say that one may speak in the tongue of angels. Now I don't know what "tongue of angels" might mean, but I'd assume it isn't a human language.

The aspect of requiring translators is valid according to 1 Corinthians 15 (note: same chapter as "women, be quiet" though).